From the world’s most expensive tea to pickled tea salad, discover ten intriguing quirks about the world’s most popular hot drink
Tea is the most popular hot drink in Britain and around the world, so it’s hard to believe there is something we don’t know about it. But a chat with Tim D’Offay of Postcard Teas will quickly set you straight. Here he reveals the most intriguing quirks of our favourite drink – from the world’s most expensive cuppa to a tea you can eat.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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The £1,000 Cuppa
"The world's most expensive ever tea comes from just six famous trees in the Wuyi mountains known as the Da Hong Pao mother trees," says Tim. "It was last made in 2005 and 20g were sold in 2006 for over $20,000 (about £11,000)." It takes about 6g to brew a Da Hong Pao cup but you can re-steep the tea more than once, so each cuppa works out at mere £800-£1000.
Image: Da Hong Pao trees in Wuyi, China, courtesy Postcard Teas
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Tea: The World’s Favourite Camellia
"Tea is a member of the Camellia species but it's the only camellia that contains caffeine," explains Tim.
Image: Camellia Sinensis Flower, courtesy Arne Hückelheim
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Fancy A Bite Of Tea?
"As well as being infused and drunk, tea is also eaten," says Tim. "In Burma, lahpet, a kind of pickled tea, is a popular dish, while in China, the country's most famous green tea, Long Jing, is cooked with the local lake's finest shrimp to make a delicious dish."
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Think Britain’s Rainy? Try Darjeeling
Darjeeling is known for being one of India's best tea growing regions but says Tim, torrential rain is its other claim to fame. "The name Darjeeling originally derives from the phrase 'The Land of Indra's Thunderbolt' and it rains an amazing amount there. Some years, in the monsoon season, it can rain almost 3 feet a month."
Image: Shahnoor Habib Munmun/Wikimedia Commons
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Tea Beats Coffee 3-1
Tea is the world's most popular prepared drink - ahead of coffee and soft drinks although both are currently chasing tea's No 1 spot, according to Tim. In Britain, people drink three times as much tea as coffee, according to recent research by Euromonitor.
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Take A Tea Tour Of The World
We tend to think of tea as a Chinese and Indian import, but, says Tim "it is grown commercially on all the world's continents except Antarctica." There's even a tea plantation in Britain, the Tregothnan estate in Cornwall.
Image: tea plantation in Malaysia, Wikimedia Commons
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Did You Know Tea’s A Tree?
In its natural state, the tea camellia is a tree and can grow to over 50-60 feet high and the oldest living tea trees are probably around 2000 years old.
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The British Tradition That’s Actually French
Believe it or not, Britain can't claim credit for the custom of putting milk in black tea. "The French intellectual and patron Madame de la Sablière is credited with starting the craze
in the 17th century," according to Tim.
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Is This The World’s Strangest Artwork?
In Japan, reports Tim, seven special tea bowls are recognised as being national treasures. Among them is this spotted tenmoku tea bowl. Glazed with blue and green spot marks, it dates from the 12th or 13th century and is on display at the Fujita Art Museum in Osaka.
Image: Yohen Tenmoku Tea Bowl, courtesy Wikimedia Commons
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The Dark Side Of Tea
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the British East India Company sold opium to the the Chinese to finance Britain's habit for tea!
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